Spray evaporation of liquid foods

Abstract

‘Spray evaporation’ based on the principle of adiabatic humidification was examined as an evaporation technique for the concentration of two types of representative liquid foods, namely, fruit juice and milk. The concentration of apple juice could be increased from 10.0 to 13.0 °Brix by this technique without application of heat utilizing the humidity potential to an extent of 89%. Employing heated process air during processing increased the amount of water evaporation owing to increased saturation humidity level, enabling higher concentrations to be achieved in apple juice (48 °Brix), reconstituted milk (29 °Brix) and single toned milk (22 °Brix). Feed flow rate had an inverse effect on the final concentration under otherwise similar conditions. Evaporative cooling associated with spray evaporation actually delivered the concentrate at a relatively lower temperature. By manipulating the operating conditions, humidity potential could be utilized to the extent of 55% with heated process air. The spray evaporation technique seemed to have a good potential for the concentration of liquid foods.